Chapter 76

Nestled in a thick grove of trees, Rain’s house was made of timber and look like something that Abraham Lincoln, the former, and famous President of the United States, had grown up in—though just a bit bigger and with more rooms inside.

Yeah, Rain and the other two Lamian’s love nest was just a simple cabin or a log house, or perhaps a combination of both. Not something fancy, mansion or the likes. Although it could be more, still, he like the scent of wood and lumber, and the fresh dew in the morning more than a lavish mansion.

Furthermore, even if he wanted to have a house made of concrete, time-wise, it's inconvenient. And it would just give more work to the other Lamians. Thus, he settled in a simple countryside house. Though, it almost has all the necessary facilities--cramped by him and the others as much as possible in the small space during its planning.

Aside from a simple Bathroom, Living, and Kitchen, it has one large bedroom that took up the majority of the space of the log house, and with a queen size bed tucked into the corner. Despite the limitedness of the place, the faux bearskin rug, and old-fashioned fireplace gave the cabin a rustic charm that more than made up for the lack of fancy design, ornaments, and many more.

Rain awoke with golden sun streaming through the room’s windows and the smell of meat being fried in the kitchen. Lafetti was awake already, just smiling at him as if still entranced, thinking of what they had been through together over the last forty-eight hours. She played with his hair and held the dark strands up to the light in the room. Then, with a simple ‘Good Morning’ he pulled her into his arms and their naked bodies knotted themselves around the other.

Their morning lovemaking was different than that of the previous days. Whereas the previous days were frenzied and unpredictable, now she and him were lovingly contemplated one another, savoring each other’s bodies like newlyweds. They moved from position to position, just like the time when they just first accepted each other, far before the times Rain arrived in the village, and once again affirming their love.

Time passed slowly, and his days also passed without any great waves while staying inside the tribe obediently. He threw himself into his combat training, magic, as well as practice and research in the art of Blacksmithing and Alchemy under the tutelage of Sarete and Miyabila.

Once in a while, he would go outside and play with Starl and the other children, and would also accompany Lafetti and Zarda to spend the days. He seems to forget about the humans in the Desolate Cave and that particular encounter.

And without nothing to do, as well as not being able to wander and play outside due to Zarda and Lafetti’s insistence of him staying put in the tribe, Rain turned almost all his attention into his Village Reform Project.

During these few months of living in this village, he had already started his village recreation plan. And it had somehow progressed incredibly, even beyond his expectation. It was mainly because the Lamians are so cooperative, doing whatever he wanted. Now, almost all the Lamians already had a proper home, and the entire village had been slowly transformed into that of a normal human settlement.

In fact, perhaps even better than normal average human villages out there in this world. He was certain of that, judging from the fact that this world seemed to be a mirror of the early medieval period in Europe. And besides, the buildings they had made, though simple just wooden cabins and log-houses, were made according to the blueprints straight from the modern world. It has an incredible sense of uniformity, as well as a modern-feeling of comfort.

Now, it’s almost like a village of villa houses for the rich to relax…

What’s even better is that a proper public toilet has finally been made just recently under his insistence. After all, proper waste disposal is something incredibly important for civilization as it could induce cleanliness and reduce the chances of illnesses and diseases appearing.

Truthfully, Rain had never thought that his village plan would progress so smoothly. After all, he was not a proper engineer or architecture student, and only knows some layman knowledge on these courses. What’s more, unlike humans, Lamians didn’t have a sense of proper home-building skills. They made only those which they deemed necessary, even if it’s very simple.

However, to his surprise, perhaps due to the fact that they had been wanderers for countless years, attaining and learning skills through their journeys, their crafting skills are not as inferior as he thought they would be. As long as he properly explained things, and blueprints provided (which he picked straight out from the net) they can easily make things which he wanted, only after undergoing several trials and errors. And their learning speed was even more shocking and amazing.

Once they successfully build one, they would then be able to replicate it again, with a much obvious shorter time, and also with errors from the previous construction, fixed.

Now, even with the village reconstruction still undergoing, you can already see that the Lamian Village was already heaven-and-earth apart from how the crude and refugee-like village Rain had remembered the first time he came here.

He wondered if the Lamians actually possess such incredible skills, but they just didn’t display it before he appears. After all, if one wanted to develop this place, then they had to build strong roots in this place first. But for the Lamians, this place was just one of their stopping places, and are already prepared to once again move out at a moment’s notice.

The Desolate Cave was completely an abandoned paradise which for Rain, was a land endowed with great natural resources and some of the world’s incredible biodiversity. As for why it was known as a Desolate Wasteland, he didn’t know who or how the name came to be, but according to what he had heard, this particular place was a complete thorough wasteland a long time ago.

It was a part of the Great Wasteland that had never been conquered or completely explored by man even in the lost times of the history of the continent. However, according to the legend, a great battle occurred here and a massive crater had been the result of that intense battle. But just what kind of people could do such a thing?

No one knows, only, they referred to it as the Battle of the Gods. However, that is not what is not important, but the thing is that, for some strange unknown reason, that battle also not only made this massive crater but also caused a sudden change or transformation of this place—a great amount of mana started to circulate in the place, gathered and slowly converge together. Because of that, it grew into what it’s now—plants started growing, the barren earth becoming invigorated with the essence of life, and much more miraculous transformation.

Ever since its miraculous change, various races had tried to conquer it but to no avail. Monsters from the Impassable Mountains in the north, and also the Great Desolate Plain located in the East gathered together in this Mana-rich land and claimed it as their own. Monsters that were originally much more powerful than normal monsters, and had become even stronger due to the thick mana circulating in the land, had thwarted the invasion of any races. In the end, it had become a rich land with no owner. Of course, apart from those who self-proclaimed it- the gathered Monster Kings.

Hence, to the Lamians, this land is indeed one of the best to settle in. And to Rain, this is the absolute truth. Although the village is small it could be expanded outwards. But all talk was useless if the people weren’t willing to stay. That was the Lamians reason why they didn’t even bother to try and develop this place more. They had known and understand since a long ago, that the future is always unpredictable.

If they could be forced to abandon a plot of land at any time, then who would be willing to develop it?

Who would want to improve it?

But that had been changed. Now, the Lamians had a great reason to stay, stopping their nomad lives, and settle in this rich-land. And that is Rain, and the hope he had brought with him. With all said and done, they are now willing to make and start a new life in this place.

Even though Rain had been living in this place for a long time, he has yet to completely understand how vast this Desolate Cave truly is. All he knows is that it’s incredibly big. And much of the land was uncultivated and somewhat full of overgrown life-forms. Nevertheless, it’s an inhabitable land, despite the danger it possesses.

The most noteworthy achievement that had transpired in his new village reconstruction plan, was of course not the houses but was none other than the roughly five-meter tall, and two-meter wide, fieldstone wall that surrounded the entire village.

With the creation of Cement by Rain, Sarete, and the other Lamians, they were able to easily and smoothly build the defensive wall Rain wanted. In fact, the creation of the Cement made quite a stir among the Lamians, especially the Alchemists such as Sarete. It was a convenient and incredible invention for construction, not only for the cement wall but also for buildings.

Even Sarete is full of praise for the newly created substance and claimed that it’s a precious invention that literally changes history. And, yes, this would change the history of mankind, to be able to build with a water hardening material, with raw materials which were easy to obtain, not to mention, so simple to prepare- it truly numbered among one of the most efficient tools that could be developed in this era.

But to these things, Rain can only smile wryly while bathing in their adoration and worship for knowing such a thing. After all, he was not the one who invented it. And in the first place, he knows nothing about it, much less its creation. And if not for the people who had suggested using cement to build facilities, houses, and such- people in the Chat Forum with other people, he would have never think of using it, at least not for quite a while.

Unless he was able to realize it much sooner himself. On another note, the idea of creating a fieldstone wall to surround the village was also suggested by the people in the Chat Forum. That was when Rain tried asking what he should do, or plan to develop a simple village from scratch.

The people in the forum still thought that he was still sticking in his delusional setting, while the others seemed to start believing it—nevertheless, some of them made incredible suggestions and advice, which he immediately used and implemented.

The first one is a defensive wall for protection from enemy attacks, management, necessary facilities, and many more. Then, by simply searching for the method to create cement and other things, it was much easier than coming with the idea. He even let Sarete and the other Alchemist watch a video of simple making cement, which made the Lamians even worshipped his Smartphone as a Divine Object even more.

The location of the village made everything easier as well.

With a natural defense at the back, they just made half an arc-shaped defensive wall, much easier, and time-efficient. Furthermore, since the Lamians also mined ores and minerals throughout their life, living in the Desolate Cave, in the nearby mining area, rich with minerals—which also was the main reason why the Lamians settled in this part of the Desolate Cave in the first place, the surrounding area was filled with rock gravel mined from the cave.

These gravel cast-offs were ash gravy, containing plenty of calcium carbonates, which could be used as limestone after grinding. And according to the net, limestone seemed to be equal to cement, making things even easier. Truthfully, Rain had thought that even with all the materials now on hand, it would still quite a while for them to completely implement the new technology. After all, even with the learning materials, it still needed one to completely understand the ins and outs of the job.

As they say, anyone can build a house of straw, but it takes a professional to build a proper house. Experience and mastery are still necessary. However, to his surprise, the Lamians learns fast and also… Magic made it even easier.

The production of cement and lime powder ignited Sarete's emotions that she turned all her attention into it, mastering it in no time. Even Miyabila was much interested in the new construction technology. It seems like Rain had truly underestimated the passion of craftsmen.

Well, he too had made a great contribution in making it immediately as well; as he patiently explained everything he knows and understands especially the modern slangs and words that the Lamians hardly understand.

Because of his efforts and also the Lamians alchemic talents, especially Sarete, the cement production process was smoother than he expected. Coupled with the fact that they just followed the instructions from the net, word by word—first the limestone would be ground into powder, afterward mix it with clay, iron powder, and then it would be calcined with a dry or wet method. It can then be used after the final grinding with plaster.

The raw materials were very common, especially in this rich-resource land, the critical fact lies in the process to reach the right calcine temperature.

In the era of less advanced smelting technology, maintaining the temperature of the furnace has been a problem for all people. The heat loss of an ordinary open furnace was too great; it was difficult to maintain the temperature at 1200 degrees. And even with the accurate measurement displayed in the net, he had not the possibility to measure and control the temperature – whether it was an infrared thermal detector or a thermocouple temperature measuring gun, either both were not available, this made the production of the cement countless times more complex.

But this was easily solved by Miyabila's existence. She, who possesses incredible mastery in her fire magic, had become the one responsible for turning the complex processes into much easier work. Though she made several failed attempts, nevertheless, she was able to make it after only dozens of trials and errors.

As for why Rain decided to make a fieldstone wall, instead of a proper concrete wall was because, he wanted to maximize the usage of the existing materials and save cement, so building a fieldstone wall would be the most appropriate choice. That is also suggested by the people in the forum. It’s like a first-stage development in the village reform plan.

The so-called fieldstone was a stone that had not undergone any grinding was just a natural byproduct of mining. These stones, because of the irregular shape of the edges and corners, there was no way to directly use it to build, instead, they first needed to be processed by the stonemason into usable bricks. But building a fieldstone wall while using cement as a binder was possible, regardless of how oddly shaped the stone was it could be used, the gap between the stones was filled by the cement, saving cement and using leftover materials.

Because of this as well, Rain’s level in Architecture and Engineering skyrocketed. And the terms and difficult aspects of the course he couldn’t understand before even after reading many books and manuals became much easier with the increased level of the skill.

He even wondered, if ever he took an exam for Architecture or Engineering Courses right now, perhaps he might actually ace them easily?

Another thing that he placed most of his attention, aside from building houses and walls, was the farm field of the village. And although much of the land is fertile and best in growing fields, the number and sizes of the field are actually smaller than one can expect.

After all, the number of Lamians able to do farm work is few, and perhaps not more than a dozen. Of course, it’s not a problem at all, after all, the Lamians mostly live through hunting and scavenging, rather than farming.

However, seeing the wasted land, he can't help but wonder if ever they had actually cultivated most of the available land with larger fields and the likes, then even if winter came, it wouldn’t be so bad at all, and the food will more abundant in the table.

Even without hunting in such a cold season, which for the Lamians was the toughest and hardest season of all, there will be no shortage of food on the table.